National Public Radio continues to throw a hissy fit over Twitter designating the government-funded broadcaster as “U.S. state-affiliated media.”
On Wednesday, NPR announced that it would suspend the use of its Twitter account “because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility.” The irony here is that in the eyes of many, NPR has little credibility outside the elite media bubble.
Twitter has tagged the NPR Twitter account as “Government-funded Media,” which is the same label the Elon Musk-run company applies to the BBC, the national broadcaster of Britain — the Chief Twit tweeted his approval, saying: “Seems accurate.”
“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” Isabel Lara, NPR’s chief communications officer, said in a statement.
“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” Lara added.
NPR announces it will no longer use Twitter because @elonmusk has correctly pointed out taxpayer dollars are used to support NPR. It’s amazing how quickly left wingers run for the hills when they actually face scrutiny. NPR should just build its own Internet, that’s how this… pic.twitter.com/sDsJ04FJ9f
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 12, 2023
NPR’s chief executive John Lansing sent a letter to staff Wednesday morning making them aware of the move, according to The New York Times.
“Actions by Twitter or other social media companies to tarnish the independence of any public media institution are exceptionally harmful and set a dangerous precedent,” Lansing wrote.
“NPR operates independently of the U.S. government. And while federal money is important to the overall public media system, NPR gets less than 1% of its annual budget, on average, from federal sources,” NPR reporter Bill Chappelle reported last week.
While the decision is sure to get plenty f media attention, journalists all but ignored Fox News’ 16-month boycott of Twitter under old management, after the home address of host Tucker Carlson was posted on the platform in 2018.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
These guys? pic.twitter.com/AFfevIEKl9
— ⚡David Angelo⚡ (@MrDavidAngelo) April 12, 2023
So basically, @NPR got “mislabeled” in their opinion and is throwing a fit.
They probably think this is as equivalent to getting misgendered!
— Raiya Safaia (@Raiya_Safaia) April 12, 2023
Weird how NPR believes their credibility hinges on Elon’s opinion of them.
— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) April 12, 2023
Trash taking itself out. Progress!!! Is NYT next?
— Milenka~ (@MilenaAmit) April 12, 2023
Didn’t CBS make the same declaration? How long did that last?
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) April 12, 2023
Elon does all this so effortlessly!
— Snow65snow (@Snow65Snow) April 12, 2023
Another W for @elonmusk. He is almost winning more than @realDonaldTrump.
— Mike Sperrazza (@MikeASperrazza) April 12, 2023
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